Now, 26 years on, he reckons whoever wins this weekend’s tie of the round will have every right to shout from the rooftops about their chances of lifting the cup again.

Dons legend Irvine rates Saturday’s Tynecastle showdown as the clash between the second and third favourites to go all the way to glory.

And if either of them do, he reckons they will not play a tougher game along the way than this mouth-watering clash of two Premiership titans.

Aberdeen will go into the game as slight favourites, but only just, against a Jambos line-up brimming with confidence after their impressive start to their first season back in the top flight.

Certainly Hearts boss Robbie Neilson will be quick to embrace the underdogs tag but Irvine reckons that’s a wise move when he remembers the big talk from Jambos legend John Robertson in the build up to their quarter-final in 1990.

Back then Robbo’s confidence only fired up the Dons dressing room to go out and prove him wrong, winning 4-1 at Pittodrie then going on to beat Celtic on penalties in the final with Irvine netting the decisive spot-kick.

Irvine said: “Obviously there’s a long way to go before you can think about winning the cup but if they can get through a tough draw as this is it would be a major step forward.

“It’s such a tough draw for both Hearts and Aberdeen, but whoever gets through this they can be consoled that the road should only get easier from there. Unless they get Celtic in the next round!

“I remember in 1990 we knew it was going to be a similarly tough tie – especially as Hearts were making a bit of noise about doing well against us.

“John Robertson and Scott Crabbe were talking in the press about how well they were doing, scoring a lot of goals and how they would look to continue doing that against Aberdeen.

“They weren’t out of order, they were just speaking confidently but it motivated big Alex McLeish and myself to make sure we did all we could to keep them out. It fired us up.

Robertson and Irvine in action (Image: Daily Record)

“On the day we managed to do that, beating them 4-1 and I even managed to get a goal myself to make it a comfortable win in the end.

“Looking back that was a massive moment in the cup run but at the time, from a player’s point of view you can only take these runs one round at a time and not look beyond that.

“A supporter can get carried away and look at winning silverware early on but from a player or manager’s point of view it has to be professional and focused only on the task at hand.”

Nevertheless, the Aberdeen players are well aware of the high expectations of their support who have suffered too often from bitter disappointment.

Winning the League Cup two seasons ago ended a 19-year wait for a major trophy but Irvine reckons that does nothing to ease the pressure on the players to deliver more success.

He said: “Last year Aberdeen played Dundee and were out of the tournament before December.

“That was a huge disappointment for the fans’ hopes to be dashed before it had got started so to get a tough draw like this only makes the stakes even higher. Winning the League Cup two years ago got the monkey off their back in some ways but that doesn’t take the pressure off the players because I think Aberdeen should be winning cups.

“It’s even got to the stage where it’s getting a bit more realistic to think that we can win the league as well now, which is great.

“A club of Aberdeen’s stature would expect to have silverware in the trophy room so the pressure is always on the players.

“It’s 26 years now since we won the Scottish Cup and people always say they find that unbelievable – but that shouldn’t be so hard to take in if you look through history. Aberdeen have only won the Scottish Cup seven times so balanced over a hundred years such a gap between winning it isn’t so surprising.

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“I think when you’re in the moment it’s more difficult to accept as a fan, but when you look in the history books that puts it more in perspective. There were some great Aberdeen teams through the years like the team that won it in 1970 with Joe Harper scoring the goals.

“But I think the wins under Alex Ferguson made Dons fans a bit spoiled because they started to expect that Aberdeen would win the cup every year. That’s a skewed view of reality based over the wider course of history.”

With both teams also battling for second place in the Premiership and striving to stay close enough to Celtic to mount a title challenge, the big dilemma is whether Dons and Hearts would rate a memorable cup success above the more consistent excellence demanded over the course of a season to rack up a top two league finish.

Irvine added: “That’s a good question because I think fans and the manager would have different priorities on that score.

“Last year although Aberdeen didn’t win a trophy, they finished second and Derek McInnes was probably happier with the consistency that they showed over the season. That’s a great marker of their professionalism.

“But I think as a supporter the thought of winning a trophy is more exciting, and you saw the scenes in the city when they won the League Cup after such a long wait.

“So I would think supporters would say winning a trophy is best, the manager and players would say finishing second is the bigger achievement. Ideally I’d love to see them do both!”